Only the UFC women’s bantamweight class has fewer signees than the male flyweights, but reigning champion Demetrious Johnson is perfectly content in his current weight class.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do at flyweight,” Johnson said earlier this month during a Q&A session with UFC fans.

Johnson (16-2-1 MMA, 5-1-1 UFC), who attempts his first title defense next month at UFC on FOX 6 opposite John Dodson (14-5 MMA, 3-0 UFC), began his big-show career at bantamweight in the now-defunct WEC. After an initial setback, he went on a win streak and won a title shot against champ Dominick Cruz in October 2011. However, a five-round fight saw Cruz defend the belt via decision.

Johnson, who walks around at 145 pounds, leapt at the chance to fight at flyweight when the UFC put together a four-man tournament to determine the promotion’s first 125-pound champion. And after an initial setback – a bizarre draw with Ian McCall at UFC on FX 2 – he went on to win the belt with a split call over Joseph Benavidez.

But the prospect of avenging a loss to Cruz isn’t a motivator.

“I think that fight was a great fight, and Dominick is a great champion, and I hope he has a great recovery for his ACL,” said Johnson, referring to Cruz’s nagging ACL problems that are expected to keep him out of action for much of 2013. “It was a great learning experience, and I think I found my home at 125 (pounds).

“Now, let’s say two years down the road, I’m cleaning house in the flyweight division and Dominick is doing the same thing at bantamweight, and the UFC is like, ‘We’re going to do [Georges St-Pierre] vs. Anderson Silva, but we’re also going to do Johnson vs. Cruz superfight.’ Then maybe it will make sense.”

Of course, Johnson would need to fight at an impressive clip for several years to equal the championship output of either Silva or St-Pierre, who have defended their belts a combined 17 times. And at this point, there’s a question of whether there would be enough credible competition for him to keep busy. Fifteen flyweights occupy the UFC’s flyweight roster.

But Johnson doesn’t just look at No. 1 contenders. He also looks at the guys behind them.

“I don’t want to say it’s limited,” Johnson said. “We have great talent out there. Let’s say the next fight is Chris Cariaso vs. John Moraga, and the winner of that doesn’t mean I’ll fight that guy. I’ll go fight the guy he beat up, too, because that’s still an opponent out there for me. And they’re still looking for new talent, as well.”

Dodson is the first contender to emerge from the flyweight pack following the tournament. He bested Tim Elliot and the highly regarded Jussier Formiga to earn the fight with Johnson, which headlines the event on Jan. 26 at United Center in Chicago. (Main-card fights air on FOX following prelims on FX and Facebook.)

“The one thing Dodson does so well when he fights people is that he keeps a lot of distance,” Johnson said. “When somebody does that, he dictates the fight. I think I have good fundamentals and good footwork, so that negates all the stuff that people try to do to me.”

Already two tourney vets are scheduled to fight – Benavidez and two-time Johnson opponent McCall are set to meet at UFC 156 in a bout that could have title implications.

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